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Dr Seán J. Slaght

BSc (Hons), PhD, MB, BCh, FRCP (London)

Training and education

  • BSc (Hons) - Cardiff University, 1999
  • PhD - Cardiff University, 2002
  • MB BCh (bachelor of medicine, bachelor of surgery) - University of Wales, 2004
  • Junior doctor training - Cardiff and London - 2004 to 2008
  • Specialist neurology training - Southampton, 2008 to 2012
  • Fellowship in complex epilepsy - King's College Hospital, London, 2012 to 2013

Experience

Dr Slaght joined the Trust as a consultant neurologist in 2014. He also worked here between 2008 and 2012 as a registrar.

At UHS, Dr Slaght, runs specialist epilepsy clinics and contributes to the Stroke on-call rota. He also provides general neurology and specialist epilepsy services to outpatients in Portsmouth. He contributes to the Portsmouth sleep service, where he holds two clinics a month as part of the sleep MDT.

Dr Slaght was previously the Governance lead for Neurosciences at the Wessex Neurological Centre and has been Clinical Lead for Neurology since 2020. He is also the Clinical Lead for Neurology at Queen Alexandra Hospital and has been since 2019.

Dr Slaght is interested in all areas of general and acute neurology (neurological conditions that require urgent care). His subspecialty interests are complex epilepsy (including the preparation for epilepsy surgery), stroke and sleep neurology.

Research

For his PhD, Dr Slaght studied the cellular mechanism of absence seizures (seizures in the form of a sudden loss of awareness). He is the principal investigator for many clinical trials studying epilepsy and non-epileptic attack disorder, a non-epilepsy related condition that causes patients to have seizures.

Dr Slaght has published the following articles:

  • Bonifacio GB, Patel D, Cook S, Purcaru E, Couzins M, Domjan J, Ryan S, Alareed A, Tuohy O, Slaght S, Furby J, Allen D, Katifi HA, Kinton L. Bilateral facial weakness with paraesthesia variant of Guillain-Barré syndrome following Vaxzevria COVID-19 vaccine. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2022 Mar;93(3):341-342.
  • Crisp SJ, Dixon CL, Jacobson L, Chabrol E, Irani SR, Leite MI, Leschziner G, Slaght SJ, Vincent A, Kullmann DM. Glycine receptor autoantibodies disrupt inhibitory neurotransmission. Brain. 2019 Nov 1;142(11):3398-3410.
  • Stavropoulos I, Louden W, Queally C, Adcock J, Tristram M, Neale M, Moran N, Flores L L, Nashef L, Richardson MP, Bell C, Slaght S, Aram J, Rayner N, Powell R, Mead A, Sen A, Elwes R. Perampanel for the treatment of epilepsy; Longitudinal actuarial analysis and dose responses based on monthly outcomes. Seizure. 2019 Jul;69:125-132.
  • Slaght SJ, Nashef L. An audit of external trigeminal nerve stimulation (eTNS) in epilepsy. Seizure. 2017 Nov;52:60-62.
  • Slaght SJ, Weir NU, Lovett JK. The workload of stroke thrombolysis: a prospective study in a district general hospital setting. Acute Med. 2011;10(1):10-2.
  • Mahon S, Vautrelle N, Pezard L, Slaght SJ, Deniau JM, Chouvet G, Charpier S. Distinct patterns of striatal medium spiny neuron activity during the natural sleep-wake cycle. J Neurosci. 2006 Nov 29;26(48):12587-95.
  • Slaght SJ, Paz T, Chavez M, Deniau JM, Mahon S, Charpier S. On the activity of the corticostriatal networks during spike-and-wave discharges in a genetic model of absence epilepsy. J Neurosci. 2004 Jul 28;24(30):6816-25.
  • Slaght SJ, Paz T, Mahon S, Maurice N, Charpier S, Deniau JM. Functional organization of the circuits connecting the cerebral cortex and the basal ganglia: implications for the role of the basal ganglia in epilepsy. Epileptic Disord. 2002 Dec;4 Suppl 3:S9-22.
  • Slaght SJ, Leresche N, Deniau JM, Crunelli V, Charpier S. Activity of thalamic reticular neurons during spontaneous genetically determined spike and wave discharges. J Neurosci. 2002 Mar 15;22(6):2323-34.

Dr Slaght was part of the study group for the following published clinical trials:

  • Marson A, Burnside G, Appleton R, Smith D, Leach JP, Sills G, Tudur-Smith C, Plumpton C, Hughes DA, Williamson P, Baker GA, Balabanova S, Taylor C, Brown R, Hindley D, Howell S, Maguire M, Mohanraj R, Smith PE; SANAD II collaborators. The SANAD II study of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of valproate versus levetiracetam for newly diagnosed generalised and unclassifiable epilepsy: an open-label, non-inferiority, multicentre, phase 4, randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2021 Apr 10;397(10282):1375-1386.
  • Marson A, Burnside G, Appleton R, Smith D, Leach JP, Sills G, Tudur-Smith C, Plumpton C, Hughes DA, Williamson P, Baker GA, Balabanova S, Taylor C, Brown R, Hindley D, Howell S, Maguire M, Mohanraj R, Smith PE; SANAD II collaborators. The SANAD II study of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of levetiracetam, zonisamide, or lamotrigine for newly diagnosed focal epilepsy: an open-label, non-inferiority, multicentre, phase 4, randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2021 Apr 10;397(10282):1363-1374.
  • Goldstein LH, Robinson EJ, Mellers JDC, Stone J, Carson A, Reuber M, Medford N, McCrone P, Murray J, Richardson MP, Pilecka I, Eastwood C, Moore M, Mosweu I, Perdue I, Landau S, Chalder T; CODES study group. Cognitive behavioural therapy for adults with dissociative seizures (CODES): a pragmatic, multicentre, randomised controlled trial. Lancet Psychiatry. 2020 Jun;7(6):491-505.
  • Goldstein LH, Robinson EJ, Reuber M, Chalder T, Callaghan H, Eastwood C, Landau S, McCrone P, Medford N, Mellers JDC, Moore M, Mosweu I, Murray J, Perdue I, Pilecka I, Richardson MP, Carson A, Stone J; CODES Study Group. Characteristics of 698 patients with dissociative seizures: A UK multicenter study. Epilepsia. 2019 Nov;60(11):2182-2193.

Contact

If you're a patient in Southampton, you can contact Dr Slaght via his secretary Beverley Leung - call 023 8120 5771 or send an email.

Portsmouth Neurology patients can contact his secretary Pauline Bendon at Queen Alexandra Hospital on 023 9228 6000 (ext. 6807) or email pho-tr.neurology@nhs.net.

Portsmouth Sleep clinic patients can contact the sleep team on 02392 286000. Ext 3448 or via the webform (https://www.porthosp.nhs.uk/departments/SleepPatientEnquiryForm.htm).